Old Gray
An Autobiography

THE REVIEW

They are back. Or perhaps they were born. They were still incomplete but now they have blossomed. They are one of the most promising realities of the Emo Revival movement in recent years, one of the bands that is bringing back the midwest sound of the never too much lamented Mineral, Christie Front Drive, American Football and the like. Old Gray might be a bit different from their traveling companions like Dowsing and Brave Bird. After two very high-level EPs that found their gem in a track that made fans of this sound jump for joy like "Her Tongue Was Tattooed On The Back Of Her Teeth" in the EP "Do I Dare Disturb The Universe", here comes the first full-length, which is not so full, consisting of 8 tracks, two of which are under 2 minutes. Not so full, but still a gem. "An Autobiography" could compete for album of the year. Yes, it can.

As I was saying, Old Gray's autobiography stands out from other releases of the genre in recent times, it is not pure "Emo," it's contaminated, more complex. Here we are balanced between Mineral, Penfold and various old glories and The Saddest Landscape or Suis La Lune, meaning we find ourselves between the most inspired Emo and the more melodic, melancholic and veiled Screamo/Emo Violence (is there a difference between the two? No, I'm asking because I haven't figured it out yet). But not only that. Also Post Rock digressions like in the beautiful "I Still Think About Who I Was Last Summer", a violin that peeks out every now and then, and various strings like in the concluding "My Life With You, My Life Without You" instrumental track of disarming beauty and parts more akin to math rock, echoes of Crash of Rhinos in the first track "Wolves" with all three band members singing together (I think) only to resemble the aforementioned Suis La Lune at the end. There are also spoken-word passages, such as in "Show Me How You Self Destruct" where the spirit of Jordan Dreyer lingers in the series of EPs "Hear, Hear".

And the lyrics, they also play their part, as if everything else wasn't enough. I still don't know if Old Gray can be the new something (insert chosen name among Cap'n Jazz, Mineral, Penfold, Christie Front Drive, Sunny Day Real Estate), or if we can avoid calling them that by assigning them the role of the brightest star without reference points of the Emo revival firmament. I don't know, I can't think of which band could be their heirs, so I really think that from my point of view they will be considered the best expression of the scene because "An Autobiography" is a more inspired, more heartfelt, more beautiful album, I don't know precisely of what, but it's "more".